Rumors
by kinetic-cataclysm
Summary: After hearing in the Great Hall that someone has finally touched Lily's heart, James hunts down Lily to see what's going on. But what answer will he get? A LilyxJames, please enjoy.


**Oh No, What have I **_**done**_**?! I once swore to myself I would **_**never **_**write a Harry Potter Fanfic! And yet, here we are. Oh well, it's a LilyxJames one, so I don't really feel bad, I suppose. I hope you enjoy reading it, because I actually had a lot of fun writing. (But don't tell anyone!)**

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**Rumors**

**Lily's PoV, third person**

Lily glared at the parchment in her lap. She was currently sitting on her bed in the Head Girl's Dormitory, an open Transfiguration book balanced on one leg and what was supposed to be her essay, due tomorrow, on the other. Instead, she had a near perfect replica of the face of her Head Boy partner, James Potter.

Dumping it and her book on the bead with a huff, Lily stood and crossed the cozy room to stand by her window. She stared broodingly at the cold wintry rain falling beyond her large window. Her thoughts quickly focused on the young man she had absently drawn. Lily had known for quite some time now she had begun to like James Potter, and no longer disliked his company in the least, but it was only about a month ago she realized the most important thing; she loved him. After laughing to herself about the irony of it all for a few days, she had decided to go on about her school year with no indication to even her closest friend, Alice, about her new secret. Lily supposed she could have played the part of the forlorn, heartbroken twit, but it really wasn't her style. And she thought she might still have enough shreds of dignity about her after all these years to not go chase after James after he had finally gotten over her.

Yes, James had finally given up on capturing Lily. She grimaced to her reflection in the window momentarily as she remembered. He had told her this solemnly and seriously without the slightest trace of regret a week after Lily had decided she was willing to tell James she loved him back. The grimace just turned into a deep frown at her conduct at the time, though she had thought she had done quite well, considering she had been having her heart ripped into shreds at the moment. She had been writing the concluding paragraph to a Charms essay due in an hour, and had muttered, "That's nice." Later she had gone up to her room and allowed a few tears to escape, sniffled a bit, and berated herself quite soundly for being such an ignorant git all these years, but after a good half hour of self pity she had decided it was no use crying over spilt milk.

Turning away from the window and its bleak atmosphere, Lily headed back over to her bed. She grabbed the drawing and shoved it into a small cabinet at the bottom of her nightstand. It was filled with copious drawings of Hogwarts she had drawn over the years, though the majority of the recent ones depict a certain seventh year Quidditch player with messy ebony hair, vibrant hazel eyes, and a mischievous smirk always tugging at his lips. Closing the cabinet with a slight speak due to its old hinges, Lily sat herself back down on her bed determined to finish the Transfiguration essay before dinner. She shook her head to clear her thoughts as thoroughly as possible from James. As she set her quill down to write the first word, she heard her name being called.

"Evans? You up there?" James' light baritone floated up the stairs to her room. She and James shared a dorm together as Head Boy and Girl, but just like in the regular dormitories guys couldn't get up to her room. Lily was quite thankful; she didn't need James or his friends, the Marauders, poking around her room.

"Yes, I'm doing my homework. What's the matter?" She had walked to her door and opened it to shout this down the short staircase. She paused to wait for his answer to make sure she didn't have to go down there. She had become good friends with James in the past five months, but for the last month she found it exceedingly uncomfortable to be alone with him in their common room. She was pretty sure he remained oblivious of this fact and avoided extended periods of time alone with him ensure it stayed that way.

"I need to talk to you, and would prefer to not shout myself hoarse. It's pretty important, so could you get down here, please?" Lily could detect the faint amusement in his tone, but also something else. She wasn't sure what it was, but slowly headed down the stairs anyway. James had become so polite and gentlemanly over the last year, it still took her by surprise sometimes. Remus had quietly told her one evening at the beginning of term it had been for her, and was she extremely flattered. In return she had responded by not cursing at him once, was not spitefully mean or rude. The small smile that had appeared on Lily's face at the thought of James' new maturity vanished at her next thought: He wasn't doing it for her anymore.

She reached the bottom of the stairs to see James sitting in his favorite stuffed armchair by the fireplace. He was leaning forward with his hands clasped, and a thoughtful expression adorned his handsome features. Lily wanted to smooth out his furrowed eyebrows, but settled for slowly walking forward and sinking into an armchair across from him.

"Potter, what's wrong?" Lily made sure to never slip and call him James like she did in her head, but the genuine concern in her voice was something that would have never been there a year before. She leaned forward slightly, her wavy auburn hair swinging forward around her face. Her emerald green eyes shone with worry, and the light form the fireplace gave them lighter tints. James looked up at her and smiled slightly before straightening up and leaning against the back of his chair, away from her. Lily quickly leaned back too, her eyes flickering down to her feet in embarrassment at the amount of emotion she had betrayed.

"I heard something today, a rumor to be exact, and I thought since it concerned you I should let you know about it." Lily smiled softly, still looking at the golden carpet at her feet. She too had matured a little bit, and no longer became angry at the slightest notice. She decided to try to relax herself a bit by joking around.

"It couldn't have been that bad, surely. I'm not pregnant, I hope. That wouldn't very original. I could have been blamed for some misfortune that befell someone, but since that's what the Marauders are for, it's highly unlikely…" Lily put her chin on her hand and looked at the ceiling as if lost in thought, though she had caught James' grin at her mention of the pranks he and his friends still played. She was actually trying to continue avoiding looking at his lean and muscular figure, tanned from constant Quidditch practice, but thinking about what some snide little gossiper had thought of about her was amusing too. She heard James chuckle nervously across from her, and saw him run a hand through his hair. Wait, nervous? James was never nervous, not even when she had threatened him on an almost daily basis with her worst hexes.

"Actually, it's much more cliché. You're supposedly in love with someone." Lily instantly dropped all pretense of amusement and stared at James in wide-eyed shock. As James continued her face drained of all color, and he looked a bit wary, though his eyes held a note of concern in their hazel depths.

"The rumor goes that you've been pretty distracted this past month. I noticed that pretty easily, but wrote it off to all the studying you've been doing lately. But you've also been supposedly wandering off to the lake at all hours, and have been scolded quite a few times for daydreaming in class. Lily," His sudden use of her name made her jump, however gently it had been. She looked at him with a wild and fearful glint in her eyes. "Lily, what the bloody hell is wrong with you?" He almost growled this at her, shocked at her reaction.

"I-It's nothing. I'm perfectly alright. Just…peachy." Lily hurriedly stood up. Her timer in her head that told her when too much time had been spent with James was going off wildly. "I've… just had a lot on my mind, not sure why everyone's jumped to such a silly conclusion like love at a time when we're at war, but whatever." She started to move past James' chair to head back to the sanctuary that was her room.

Her wrist was captured in James' calloused hand, and he stood up to make sure she couldn't slip away. Lily glared fiercely up at him, and lashed out angrily at him, the first time she had raised her voice at him since sixth year.

"Let go of me right now James." She almost snarled this at him, but realized her mistake at using his first name when his eyes hardened. Without saying a word, he pulled her over to the couch, pushed her down firmly without hurting her, and kneeled in front of her, his eyes piercing.

"No Lily. I want you to tell me the truth. Don't you think that after watching your every move for six years I might be able to tell when you're blatantly lying to me?" He scowled at her, waiting for a response. Lily wasn't sure why, but something in her snapped. He wanted the truth? So be it.

"You want the truth, James? Fine. Try this. Yes, I fell in love with a young man. And he's perfect, by the way. Mature, handsome, kind, and I thought he would love me till the end of time itself. Unfortunately, I was too slow in realizing what I had, of course. I saw it coming, but never truly saw the full extent of my feelings until last month. He stopped loving me, and so I here I am, not really sure what to do next. I go through my classes, paying attention as well as I can. But sometimes, I go to the lake, where it's silent, and where I thought no one would see me. I look at my reflection and ask it, 'Why the hell were you such a stubborn idiot that you refused to dampen your pride enough to tell the one man who means everything you love him?'" Lily breathed deeply, part of her glad she had finally gotten it off her chest after so long. Another part of her was whimpering in terror for his response. His eyes were wide, and he had leaned back a bit from her screaming.

For a few seconds, his expression was blank. Then Lily could almost watch the wheels turning in his mind, looking at what she said from every angle. Shocked, confused, thoughtful and then… conclusion. Lily almost cringed when he looked back at her, a fierce light in his eyes that almost made the brown in them gold in his silent fury.

"So, the unattainable Lily Evans finally fell for someone. And it's not reciprocated." He chuckled humorlessly. "Maybe you'll finally realize what it's like for me every day I'm in your presence. Maybe now you will fully feel what it's like to watch the one person you think is the heaven and earth, but be pierced with agony knowing they will never be yours." He stood up and turned his back on her, shaking slightly.

Lily slowly stood up, not really sure what she was going to do. Her reason had left a long time ago; she was functioning mainly on instinct now. She reached forward and lifted her hand to put it on his shoulder, tugging it softly to try to turn him around. He wouldn't budge, so Lily decided to just say what she wanted to; it was too late to turn back now.

"James. The man I fell in love with, and am still desperately in love with, is you." She had meant to say it so confidently, but it came out as a murmur. He hadn't responded yet, so she lowered her hand and walked around to face him. He had his eyes shut, face angled toward the ground. Lily hesitantly grabbed his jaw trying to get his attention. His eyes snapped open, looking coldly down at her.

"James, I love you. I had liked you as a really great friend for a while, but it was only last month, when you gave me that small hug on Christmas, that it finally clicked. I love you. I have for a long time, I suppose, but refused to acknowledge it. But just when I had finally built up the courage to decide I didn't care what anyone else thought, I just wanted you, you told me you gave up one me. I wasn't sure what to do. Crying and pleading isn't really my thing, but if that's what it takes at this point to try to convince you give me another chance, I'll do it." Lily's eyes had started out crystal clear in her honesty and love, but became hazy with tears toward the end.

James listened silently the whole while, but Lily didn't notice the softening of his eyes, she had turned her face to the side, not wanting to see this James that was so cold and silent, so unlike the warm, vibrant James she loved. Thus, also she didn't see the slow build up of wondering elation in James' face until she was suddenly pulled into a tight hug. She looked up at him in surprise, but was met with a pair of warm lips crashing down onto her own.

Lily's eyes instantly fluttered shut, and she passionately returned the kiss, her arms coming up to wrap around James' neck. She felt his tongue probing, pleading for an entrance to her own, but pulled away instead, panting heavily. She unwound her arms from his neck and stepped back. James kept his hands firmly on her waist however, and took a step forward with her so their bodies were still touching. Blushing, Lily looked up slowly at James.

"So, you didn't stop?" She looked hopefully into his hazel eyes, but they were so warm and inviting she almost became too lost in them to hear his answer.

"I could never stop Lils. I just tried to stop showing it really, but when I heard you had fallen for some other guy, I became so angry I had to come and ask you." He lifted a hand from her waist to run it through his hair ruefully. "To be honest, I was kind of expecting a slap on the cheek and a really bad hex. But I had to ask." He smiled down at her and leaned in to kiss her sweetly and chastely on the lips. She responded for a second, but pulled away again to just wrap her arms around his chest.

"Well, now you know it paid off, because I'm definitely yours." She grinned up at him, and lifted herself up on tiptoe to kiss him, and was eagerly met halfway.

**Well, there it is. Ending was little abrupt, but oh well. Not too shabby, if I dare say so myself. But the real question is how you, the magnificent reader, enjoyed it. So please review, and tell me! It'd make me a very happy, and let me know if I did these characters justice. **


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